Canadian Breakfast

backlogging and sipdown…

I won’t be on much until April…

This is a lovely way to start the day … and yes, that means I am starting the day at 1:35pm. I like it better that way, because it means I totally missed morning, and my opinions of mornings are not real positive. I’m not a morning person.

This is very hearty, good and strong. Astringent, but not bitter. I do notice a slight sourness to the undertone, as mentioned by my SororiTea Sister, TeaEqualsBliss. It’s not off-putting, instead, I think it seems to enhance the overall experience by giving the palate something different to explore.

A lovely cuppa. My full-length review: http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=19045

Thank you LiberTEAS for this sample. I’m gonna jump right in and say that this is a bold cuppa. My palate was a little sleepy from the half hour I laid down- that was supposed to be sleep (4th week on third shift that this has happened) so the first sip GRABBED me. I was about to write something to the effect of ‘if this is Canadian breakfast I’m starting to think that they’re all lumberjacks and steelworkers-including the women’, but within a few sips I got used to and started to really appreciate the boldness it has (and yes I realize that women can equally fill the roles of lumberjack and steelworker. My wife and I are both commercial/industrial painters who may be climbing steel,hanging off the side of a building,or just painting the walls of a brand new hospital on any given day,so no offense intended).

Soon after I got used to the initial boldness I started really seeking out the malt aspect. I must agree with the makers description that there is an oak characteristic, though I’m not too sure how flowery it is. For me the touch of sweet I find is subdued by an equal touch of smoke…almost a mesquite, but ever so slight. I- ‘THE ASTRINGENCY WEENIE’ am shocked to find that the astringency most other taste notes spoke of was hardly present…at first. This may be because, out of fear, I elected to steep this for two and a half of the three to five minutes suggested. At first, I only found slight dryness on the roof of my mouth with very little on my tongue not sure if that’s normal or not.
As the cup cooled, as cups always do, the astringency rose a bit as well as the malty notes. Now my tongue was getting that dry, almost chalky, feeling.

Second steep was three minutes with a little less water. As before the cup started out smoother before cooling. Out of curiousity I checked it when pouring my cup-one hundred ninety degrees farenheit. It’s not as complex either. Maybe a little less water still would be in order. Mostly what’s left is a semi-sweet malt flavor that gains astingency when it cools. That’s all I got, a pretty good cuppa especially to start the day with.

tunes-Benny Goodman=Mambo Swing,Louis Prima=St.Louis Blues/Just A Gigolo(David Lee Roth didn’t write this song),Charlie Byrd=So Danco Sambo/A Carol For All Seasons

Thank you LiberTEAS for this nice sample!

There are some very interesting characteristics with this tea. Plenty of mixture in the dry leaves, even noticed some smaller broken green colored leaves – looked like an oolong.

Now to the fragrance of the infusion. Immediately, there was a familiarity with the flavor and boldness of this brew. It was more intimate and brought me to my southern coastal roots. It wasn’t the cinnamon brown colored liquid that spoke faintly, then more pronounced between each sip. It was the aroma and the salty oceanic presence that drew me in the most. There was a medium astringency, however this wasn’t the most noticeable of all note.

Warning: This next reference will seem odd and over-dramatic.

I am not kidding when I say that there was the taste of – steamed crabs! There, I said it. Get over it! :) Yes, there’s a few very strange people that will drink a tea and compare it to a decapod crustacean, more specifically – Callinectes sapidus, better known as the blue crab. And yes, I’m strange. Now, before you chalk me as a complete idiot, let me make the connection of where I’m coming from on a taste standpoint.

There is a certain strange sweetness and almost indescribable flavor that one discovers while consuming the body meat (not claws) of a freshly stewed blue crab. Look up Crab Etoffee and you will be headed the right direction in understanding my experience. I had to add sugar and milk to test how this taste held up to the additions and found it added a creamy, buttery depth to this broth, I mean brew.

I found that you could taste more of the black tea if you help the liquid a moment longer on the tongue. This was definitely a nice experience, although I simply wasn’t in the right mood for this particular tea. I was searching more for a bold treat, even an option to make a chai-like drink. This tea didn’t quite match my mood this time. Maybe better luck next time. It was good nonetheless.